Ink pen on A5 sized 130 lb paper

Please email me your bid (starting at $45) if you’d like to own this piece.

On our latest visit to Lviv  I met this amazing artist Oleksandr Fedorchuk ( we actually went to art school together, him being two years senior). Now a renowned icon painter, does amazing Byzantium style works in traditional technique.

Besides we visited our old digs at Dzyga to drink coffee Lviv style and catch the latest exhibit. Check out a new show at Zelena Kanapa. Finally checked out Kryivka to drink some good beer by Persha Lvivska Brovarnya, medivka and experience the nationalist Ukrainian army atmosphere – machine guns, Georgia supporting manifestos and field trip type of food. A climb to the top of city hall for breathtaking vies and visit to many bookshops and antique books market by Ivana Fedorova monument were all a must.

2008 oil on board 6×6 inches

Please email me your bid (starting at $75) if you’d like to own this piece.

We stayed in the house on the right once during our visit to Lviv. 17th century house – got to be charming and all, right? Well, the tram tracks are quiet indeed as the landlord promised us, but the cat piss and very rickety stairs to the top floor are no joy. In my recent epic apartment hunt I found out though that surprisingly, many historic buildings in London are not kept up either, so can’t blame it on Ukrainians’ aesthetics alone.

Today attended a life drawing session at the Candida gallery, here are the results.

Interesting article on the general state of Ukrainian art market by Kyiv Weekly.

My upcoming exhibit full page ad for the IWCK newsletter. Still work in progress.

… as seen from the window of the Opera hotel. The room we took sits right below the terrace restaurant of the hotel. The view was spectacular, particularly at dusk.
Kei at Stop Eating Crap! got a kick out of my fruit and vegetable street sellers.

John Erickson – an American painter that does wonderful impressionistic cityscapes.

Fun illustrator and graffiti painter from Lviv that I found on Flickr - Irena Zablotska.

Viktor Suvorov. Kyiv, 2003

Eduard Stranadko. Poltava, Panyanskiy Boulevard, 2005

The photos will be on show here:

Lviv: 26 march 2008 – 13 april 2008 “Dzyga” Gallery

Kyiv: 04 march 2008 – 16 march 2008 “Dim Mykoly” Gallery

Photos from www.blackandwhite.org.ua

Recently I saw a show by an indie band from Kyiv called Kryhitka Zahes (Cleine Zahes) at the Lyal’ka club in Lviv. There is girl with long bags who sings, two guitar players and a drummer who puts on particularly electrifying act. The band (singer in particular) has a European indie(pendent) artsy feel about it, in the way they dress and act on stage, like too many bands in the West do, and too few – here. They performed some old things you’d recognize from hearing them on a radio, and some new, a song about a car was very good. They’ve got a new bass player – as their original bassist has recently passed away.

The band’s got an environmental message they promote. A girl sitting next to me won a canvas grocery bag for answering some band-related trivia right. (btw, Ukrainians widely recycle their plastic bags too).

Check out their My Space profile for samples of their music and list of upcoming shows.

24.01.08 worked off the original doodle to paint this scene now in oil.

Olha Pylnyk’s ceramic Christmas tree / candle holder:

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The Carpathians on Christmas by Mykhailo Demtsiu (who recently has had a solo show at the Triptych gallery);

and a little shepherd from children’s book illustration by Olha Kwasha:

Checking with her earlier works I found an amazing series of Lviv backyard landscapes. The light in them grabs your attention the most. I put out here every picture I could get my hands on from those series: